She had neither seen nor heard aught of the German since that time
and she did not know whether he had perished in this strange land,
or succeeded in successfully eluding its savage denizens and making
his way at last into South Africa.
For her part, she had been incarcerated alternately in the palace
and the temple as either Ko-tan or Lu-don succeeded in wresting
her temporarily from the other by various strokes of cunning and
intrigue. And now at last she was in the power of a new captor,
one whom she knew from the gossip of the temple and the palace to
be cruel and degraded. And she was in the stern of the last canoe,
and every enemy back was toward her, while almost at her feet
Mo-sar's loud snores gave ample evidence of his unconsciousness to
his immediate surroundings.
The dark shore loomed closer to the south as Jane Clayton, Lady
Greystoke, slid quietly over the stern of the canoe into the chill
waters of the lake. She scarcely moved other than to keep her
nostrils above the surface while the canoe was yet discernible in
the last rays of the declining moon. Then she struck out toward
the southern shore.
Alone, unarmed, all but naked, in a country overrun by savage beasts
and hostile men, she yet felt for the first time in many months
a sensation of elation and relief. She was free! What if the next
moment brought death, she knew again, at least a brief instant of
absolute freedom.
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